Drop door for railway cars



June 14, 1932. G. G. GILPIN DROP DOOR FOR RAILWAY CARS Original Filed April 26. 1929 Patented June 14, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARTI-I G. GILPIN, 0F RIVERSIDE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO 'UNION METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE DROI"r DOOR FOR RAILWAY CARS Original application led April 26, 1929, Serial No. 358,305, now Patent No. 1,813,536, dated July 7, 1931. Divided and this application led January 19, 1931. Serial No. 509,712.

My invention relates to the construction of railway cars of the dumping or drop bottom type such as hopper cars, hopper gondola cars, drop bottom or general service gondola cars or the like, having a door forming a part of the car for retaining the load therein, which door is provided with hinges adjacent one of its edges and is capable of being dropped or swung open to discharge the load. Any means of raising the door to the closed position and any means for locking and releasing the door may be employed with my device. Such a door is commonly called a hopper door. My doors may also be used as drop end gates or doors for mill type gondola cars.

The object of the invention is to provide a door for a railway car with a substantially circular rib or reinforcement forming a drum head whereby a load upon the door normal to its load sustaining surface draws the metal toward the center of the circular rib which is resisted by the arcuate construction of the rib. A further object is to dispose the circular rib obliquely to the body of the door and a still further object is to provide preferably radial brackets to further brace the circular rib which extends inwardly and/or outwardly from the rib.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a plan view of a door incorporating my invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is another side elevation of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section on line A-l of Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is a modified construction.

My improved door comprises a body portion provided with a circular or substantially circular rib 21 forming a drum head wherein any vertical load imposed upon the door within the circular rib tends to draw the rib inwardly; or in other words, to flatten the circle, which tendency is resisted by the arcuate construction of the ribs, as the force is resisted by a part of the circular rib which could be described as an arch. The circular rib, therefore, forms a very strong construction to resist vertical loads imposed upon the car.

The body of the door within the circular rib may be reinforced by a plurality of radially extending brackets 37 which preferably merge into the body portion adjacent the circular rib. The amount of ribbing and reinforcing depends upon the size of the door and the load to be supported thereby.

By the term circular I mean anything substantially so; for instance, the hexagonal construction shown in Fig. 5 or any construction similar thereto which would provide the desired drum head effect.

I have shown and described the circular rib and several means of reinforcing the circular rib to better enable it to perform its function. However, any one or all of the several means may be used and still come within the scope of this invention.

The accompanying drawing illustrates the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

This is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 358,305, filed April 26, 1929, which matured into Patent No. 1,813,536 on July 7 1931.

I claim:

1. A hinged door for a railway car comprising a body, a substantially circular rib, and cruciform means to reinforce the portion of the body within the circular rib.

2. A hinged door for a railway car comprising a body, a substantially circular rib, and means to reinforce the portion of the body within the circular rib which traverses the portion of the body within the circular rib and merges into the body adjacent the rib.

3. A hinged door for a railway car comz prising a body portion, a substantially circular rib, and means to reinforce the portion of the body within the circular rib consisting of a plurality of radially extending brackets which traverses the portion of the body within the circular rib and merges into the body adjacent the rib.

GARTI-I G. GILPIN. 

